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In England, notorious murderer and serial killer Frederick West commits suicide in prison aged 53.

British steel workers call a national strike for the first time in more than fifty years in an attempt to increase their pay.

A report funded by The Department of Health in England finds that the convicted serial killer, former GP Harold Shipman, may have killed in excess of 300 of his patients.

In one of the closest fought American Presidential elections in history, Vice President Al Gore presides over a joint session of Congress that certifies George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 election.

Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken is released from jail after serving less than half of his 18 month sentence.

Aitken had been convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granda Television collapsed.

Voting in the Palestinian Presidential Elections draws to a close. Early exit polls indicate that Mahmoud Abbas has won a significant majority.

United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar sets off for Baghdad in a final diplomatic effort to avoid war with Iraq.

In Italy, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II, is released from prison. He served nearly 20 years in jail.

San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, is hit by a huge earthquake, leaving over 1,000 people feared dead.

In North Wales, baby twins are taken into care by social services from a couple who bought the children for £8000 from America over the internet.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada is replaced by his deputy Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after the military withdraw their support for Estrada.

On his second day in office American President, Jimmy Carter issues a pardon to all Americans who dogged the Vietnam draft.

Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia. He is the first indigenous president of Bolivia.

In America, Madeline Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State.

In London, Newspaper workers launch a strike against Rupert Murdoch's News International for wanting to move newspaper production away from Fleet Street. The action comes to be known as the Wapping dispute.

Six members of the International Olympics Committee face expulsion as they are accused of accepting bribes.

Condoleezza Rice is confirmed as the US Secretary of State. She is the highest ranking African-American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Manchester United player Eric Cantona is fined £20,000 and banned from playing football for nine months after he attacked a fan who taunted him.

US Brigadier General James Dozier is rescued by Italian police in Padua, after he was kidnapped by the Red Brigade.

In Britain, solicitor Sally Clark is cleared by the Court of Appeal of murdering her two sons. Clark had already served more than three years of a life sentence.

The Gulf War: The Allies suffer their first casualties of the war as twelve American soldiers are killed when Iraqi troops take control of the Saudi Arabian border town Al Khafji.

91 people are killed and 1,400 injured when Tamil Tiger guerrillas explode a lorry bomb in the centre of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

During the Italian general election campaign, Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi causes controversy by comparing himself to Jesus Christ.

In Glasgow, Stephen Kelly goes on trial for knowingly infecting a woman with the HIV virus in a case believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland. Kelly is found guilty.

The Philippines is hit but three separate bomb attacks, believed to have been carried out by al-Qaida linked militants.

The singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, wins damages from two UK newspapers which falsely claimed he supported terrorism.

In Cambodia, former Khmer Rouge commander Chhouk Rin loses a final appeal against his conviction in connection with the 1994 murder of three Western tourists.

Tony Blair calls the American detention camp at Guantanamo Bay an ‘anomaly’.

Fox hunting with dogs becomes illegal in England and Wales.

In Britain, a high court settlement provides for significant compensation from the drug company The Distillers Company Ltd to mothers who took the drug thalidomide during pregnancy, and whose children were subsequently born with deformities.

Controversial British historian David Irving is sent to jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust.

In light of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain, the European Commission bans all British milk, meat and livestock exports.

Thieves break into a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent stealing £53 million, in Britain’s largest every robbery.

Uganda holds its first multi-party parliamentary and presidential elections for the first time in twenty five years.

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo places the country in a state of emergency after an alleged military coup fails.

Weeks after Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared a truce, four Israelis are killed and at least 30 people injured in a bomb blast outside a night club in Tel Aviv, Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.

In Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller is elected leader of the governing People's National Party. She becomes the countries first female leader.

In Nigeria, a general election takes place, ending fifteen years of military rule.

In North Hollywood, U.S.A bank robbers Larry Eugene Phillips Jr, and Emil Dechebal Matasareanu start a mass shootout with Los Angeles Police after robbing a bank. Both robbers are killed.

The European Parliament votes to allow Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union in 2007.

The Falklands War: The British ship HMS Sheffield is sunk by an Argentinean missile.

In Ghana, during a football match at Accra Stadium 126 fans lose their life during a stampede. 

In England, the British National Party wins its first council seat in East London.

As a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic relations with Britain, the Iranian government states that it will no longer seek to harm author Salman Rushdie.

In Northern Ireland, General John de Chastelain, the head of the arms decommissioning body, announces that the IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use.

Cambodia’s parliament passes legalisation to enable the creation of a UN supported tribunal to put on trial former leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

In Britain, it emerges that the government have been conducting secret talks with the IRA.

In a re-run of the Presidential election in Ukraine after electoral fraud had annulled the first result Viktor Yushchenko wins the election and the so-called “Orange Revolution” is victorious.

Having first appeared in 1950, the last daily Peanuts comic strip is published as Charles Schulz retires. The comic strip followed the exploits of Charlie Brown and friends and his dog Snoopy.